Patty Iannuzzi’s Keynote – Leadership in Action: Leading, Learning, and Reflecting on a Career in Academic Libraries – notes

Here are my notes from Patricia Iannuzzi’s keynote speech about her experience with leadership in a variety of academic library organizations. She related some key formative experiences, primarily from the perspective of how leadership intersects with management roles.

Patty Iannuzzi’s Keynote – Leadership in Action: Leading, Learning, and Reflecting on a Career in Academic Libraries

metaphor of choreographer – working with talent and orchestrating it to synchronize

individuals and ensembles

self awareness is a big part of leadership

Myers Briggs personality types

learning how to work better with other personality styles

she was dismayed not to have an “F” – feeling

“I’ve spent the last 30 years faking an F”

after 30 years, it has become a habit – on the list of things to do

having the self awareness to know how to get along with those not in your style

also not hire like yourself only

create spaces for everyone of every personality type to thrive

as a profession we are committed to self awareness and improving ourselves

not so much across our organizations – faculty

“no matter how special you are, you’re not leading if nobody is there with you”

how do you create the environment where everyone feels connected to your vision – not enough to just articulate it

have the vision, communicate it, and also be a great manager – need to translate it into the infrastructure of your organization

need to develop your supervisors, middle management, etc

can also lead from the background – hire the talent, give them your vision, and then clear the path in front of them and stay out of their way

Sharing unsuccessful projects too

owning your failure – “missteps in the right direction”

her program fell apart after she left – hadn’t put enough in place to keep it sustainable

not enough to be the star – have to create the space for others to shine

YOU ARE ALL LEADERS

pick up the responsibility – look around your organization, pick it up and run with it

volunteer, use your library as a laboratory – keep experimenting

how do you build relationships with others outside of the library

Be familiar with the research and trends happening in higher education

be aware what the message is from your own organization

stop trying to find a common language – our campus cultures are all so different

this allows you to be a good ambassador for your library

If you are not invited to the table, MAKE YOUR OWN

SuperLibrarian – we suffer from an inferiority complex

but really we are awesome

collaborative, service-oriented, generalists, IT power users, see and make connections across campus

we are not any less qualified in the academic sphere – don’t just define yourself based on your subject specialization (like your faculty colleagues)

positional power of management – hard to separate the person from the position

responsibility to listen, to question, to investigate when you are new to a position

new management coming in and pretending that there is no past

honor the initiatives that have come before – if similar things have been tried, don’t pretend that they haven’t

close the loop – people want to be listened to – demonstrate that you are open to change, that their views are informing

“I heard you, I listened, thank you for informing my decision” if you go in a different direction

Great leaders don’t just tell you what to do, they show you how it’s done

“I learn the most from the people who disagree with me”

Not changing for the sake of change, changing for the sake of improvement

continuous, data driven assessment

managing change is creating critical mass – create an environment that people want to be part of

building places that people want to be together in

maturation points within an organization – how certain practices aren’t right for your org unless you are ready for this

how do you support leadership development through the committee structure

where does the authority come from

“my first responsibility is managing organizational culture”

if you don’t have strong leadership at the top, weird sub-cultures develop

second responsibility seeing the big picture – how it’s broken down and put back together

the colored glass that makes up the kaleidoscope – how the pieces get put together to make the good things happen

being connected, understanding ppl’s strengths, understanding the literature, understanding your role as a connector

back to choreography metaphor – Alvin Ailey clip

individuals connected in an organization

moving in and out of groups

lots of space to shine as an individual

coordination that may not be immediately obvious, but it’s there

shared commitment to excellence in their performance

Questions

how did things get done before email? questioner sees her work as moving around a lot, and management spends a lot of time emailing – her reluctance to move into management roles because it’s not appealing to be sitting still all day

PI sees it as more about organizational communication patterns

not so much about email but about being present in an authentic space for the people who work for you

sometimes it works to be an emailer, sometimes not (depending on org size and workflow)

problem w questioner’s org – lots of managers, not enough leaders

PI thinks that middle managers are absolutely essential, and have to be leaders – need people who want to guide and facilitate initiatives and people

we don’t do enough to train and encourage stars in organization to become managers

how can those of us not in leadership/management roles to encourage what you are talking about in our managers?

soft skills development – communication skills, self awareness stuff

recommend suggest that there is a space for this around style – communication style, management style

if you can get your managers in line with idea, maybe have that self awareness develop on the part of your managers

diagnosing the style of your own managers, and how to best communicate with and work together with that style

aligning yourself with the way that your managers will respond best to

multi-generational organizations – how to work around that?

first step is to acknowledge that it can be a challenge

make a statement – we won’t tolerate anything less than respect for everyone

don’t ignore it – it isn’t personal – create the space where we have the conversations to facilitate change

it’s not like the new people don’t know how stuff works either – it’s possible to learn from everybody at all stages in their career

do you see yourself as the choreographer or part of the dance?

PI – I see myself as the choreographer who came up as a dancer, so I understand what is involved the role, also the one who hires the talent and perhaps suggest that the talent would do better with another troupe

how do the front-liners lead? how to get initiatives acknowledged?

every library director likes to have stories to tell about what their people have been doing

this is what leaders do – they get an idea, they frame and pitch it it, they make it happen

many of us working in hispanic serving institutions – intentionality, experiential knowledge – how those can enhance our work in reference/instruction, particularly in recruiting and mentoring librarians of color

thoughts on influencing library school leadership as well

“intentionality” – AACNU – “excellence of inclusion” – creating educational experiences that are sensitive for ALL

not just about recruiting minorities, but everyone

be clear that diversity issues are not separate

organization first, diversity second

not just about pipeline issues – students see people like themselves

about creating an organizational culture first where the practices are embedded – not just a one off response, crisis mentality – meeting our quota for librarians of color

challenging what she said about supporting faculty; would rather see the library as another academic department

PI hates the word ‘support’ and doesn’t even say ‘service’ – framing it in a way so that everybody wins and gets something

not about being servile, but being strategic – “information literacy” vs. “undergraduate research” – using the language that will resonate best with your institution